It’s a hard task. Defend Pope Benedict XVI against the ludicrous, unsubstantiated attacks against him, and you’re accused of condoning child abuse. Jump on the anti-papal bandwagon, and you unjustly condemn a man who is, by all indications, innocent. How to answer the question, often implicit, but ever-present: How can you remain part of this church with so many scoundrels in its midst?
The Running Priest, however, has an answer, taken from his mom, that is beautifully elegant in its simplicity.
But as my dear mother would say............quoting the first Pope....."Lord to whom shall we go"And to finish that quote from St. Peter, “You have the words of eternal life” (Luke 6:68). The Church may be filled with (fellow) sinners, just as it was at the time of Judas, but it’s Jesus’ Church, and it’s where I can go to receive His sacraments, His forgiveness, His Body and His Blood.
To whom shall I go, indeed.
Special prayer intentions for today’s long run: For the victims of abuse, for the souls of their abusers and enablers, for the intentions of the Holy Father, and for holiness and justice in the Church.
UPDATE: Joseph Bottum has a thoughtful take on both the scandal and the various responses to it here.
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I'm not shaken by the scandal, I'm shaken by the fact that so many Catholics buy into the media hyperbole. These same people don't trust the media; believe that on every other subject the media is biased and inaccurate but when it comes to bashing the Catholic Church...well suddenly the media is accurate and unbiased... come on get real! Its horrible if even one child is abused but I don't believe for one minute that this is a wide spread problem in our Church, the media doesn't bother to report the priests that are exonerated from accusations. Remember the big day care abuse scandal in the 80s, most of those people were falsely accused.
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